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In 2009, the Parliament of India passed the Right to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act. Section 12(2) of the RTE Act requires the Government to reimburse all private unaided schools for reserving 25 per cent of their entry-level seats for children from Economically Weaker Section and Disadvantaged Groups (EWS/DG).

In 2020, CCS joined hands with the Govt. of Punjab and GAME to study the Ease of Doing Business for MSMEs and conduct a process audit of 26 public services in Punjab. Watch this video to learn more about the project along with recent updates!

This September, we conducted the ipolicy⁠—our flagship certificate course in public policy in Delhi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, engaging 110 young leaders. Through expert-led sessions and interactive games, the course introduced the participants to principles of sound public policy and foundations of political economy through sessions on Public Choice, Spontaneous Order, Education Policy in India, Economic Freedom of the Poor and Ethical Frameworks of Governance Practices.

Our faculty included Barun Mitra, Founder and Director, Liberty Institute; Anupam Mathur, Assistant Professor, Takshashila; Rohan Joshi, Education Policy Expert; Yazad Jal, Director-Academy, CCS; and Yugank Goyal, Associate Professor and Assistant Dean (Research), Jindal School of Liberal Arts & Humanities, among others.

Missed these? Keep a lookout for our upcoming programs at www.ccs.in/ipolicy.

We hosted the Baithak, our monthly conversations in policy, in Bangalore and Hyderabad this month, engaging 37 alumni.

On the 14th September, Mr Chakravarty N, Founder, Centre for Individual Liberty spoke on the 'Politics of Global Warming', in Hyderabad, with a focus on the lack of incentives and will among governments to protect the environment and on the role of robust property rights in regulating pollution.

On 18th September, Nayantara Ranganathan, Programme Manager, The Internet Democracy Project, engaged our alumni on a dialogue on the 'Ruling and Contested Imaginations of Data Sovereignty in India', in Bangalore. She discussed concerns about the neutrality of techonology, its role in furthering discrimination, and the community-specific and contextual perceptions on privacy.

The Street Vendors Act, 2014, provides for the constitution of Town Vending Committees (TVCs) to oversee matters related to the street vendors with due representation. The Act requires 10% of the members to be from non-government and community-based organisations. As per the notification issued by Govt. of NCT of Delhi on 17th September 2019, Centre for Civil Society (CCS) has been nominated as an NGO member for 3 TVCs.

We have been successfully campaigning for the effective implementation of the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014, through Jeevika, our 'Law, Liberty and Livelihood' campaign. We have also published two comprehensive reports on the status of the implementation of the Act across the country.

Know more about our work for the rights of street vendors here.

We hosted the 5th edition of our Facebook Live discussion series 'Spontaneous Dialogue' on the 'Indian Economic Slow-down', featuring Dhiraj Nayyar, Chief Economist, Vedanta Ltd. and Mohit Satyanand,Chairman & Founder, Teamwork Arts. Our eminent panelists analysed the state of the Indian economy, and potential measures for its revival.

Watch the Dialogue here.

We partnered with Student For Liberty (India), to host a screening of Poverty Inc, a short documentary that urges a shift from aid to enterprise in developing solutions to poverty. The screening was accompanied by a talk by Kris Mauren, Co-founder, Acton Institute, highlighting the ineffectiveness aid in reducing poverty, furthering the message of the documentary.

Over 150 law students attended the screening event, held in REVA University, Bengaluru on 17th September.

This August, we conducted ipolicy- our flagship introductory training in public policy in Mumbai, with 36 young leaders successfully graduating from the course. Mathias Pontoppidan, Strategic Advisor, A.P Moller conducted the opening session of the training, addressing the current state of the Indian economy in light of pervasive fears of an impending recession. He shed light on the potential reasons for the economic slowdown including the NPA crisis, poor implementation of the GST, liquidity crunch and investor uncertainty with the government.

The ipolicy also introduced the young leaders to foundational concepts in public policy analysis and evaluation, Public Choice Theory, the Right to Education Act, among others through interactive sessions delivered by our faculty and mentors including Rajeswari Sengupta, Assistant Professor, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research; Shagata Mukherjee, Assistant Professor, Meghnad Desai Academy of Economics and Sampurna Khasnabis, Assistant Manager - Academy, CCS.

The Indian School of Public Policy (ISPP) welcomed its inaugural batch of 58 aspiring policy leaders, with the first day of classes starting on 5th. Dr Krishnamurthy Subramanian, Chief Economic Advisor of India, gave a commencement address at the ISPP Campus in South Delhi, to start the academic year.

An inaugural dinner was organised on 3rd August, providing an opportunity for interactions among the Scholars, faculty, and supporters of ISPP and CCS. Gurcharan Das, Author, delivered the welcome address at the inaugural dinner. Dr Shekhar Shah, Director-General, National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), delivered a lecture on accountability in public policy to close the evening.

Dr. Krishnamurthy Subramanian, Chief Economic Advisor’s message to ISPP Scholars

Know more about ISPP visit our website.